The Post Ejaculates Over Lieberman
by DCDave

Here are the headlines on the articles, columns, and editorial in The Washington Post on the day after the news was "leaked out" that Senator Joseph Lieberman would be the Vice Presidential running mate of Al Gore, Tuesday, August 8, 2000. Do you think they might have had a little advance notice?

ARTICLES

Headline, top of page one: "Gore Picks Sen. Lieberman." Subtitle, "Running Mate To Be First Jew on Major Ticket," by Ceci Connolly, Washington Post Staff Writer

Headline, middle of page one, above the fold: "Putting Faith in Practical Politics." Subtitle, "Lieberman Mixes His Moral Agenda With a Moderate's Approach," by Mike Allen and Amy Goldstein, Washington Post Staff Writers

Photograph between the two headlines, a jubilant-looking Lieberman with arms raised over head, wide-goalpost style, fists clinched, with this caption: "Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is hailed by AFL-CIO in Hartford, Conn., before Vice President Gore invited him to be his running mate.

P. A12

Headline, top right: "Expressions of Pride, Worries of Prejudice." Subtitle, "Jews Around Nation React With Mixed Feelings," by Dale Russakoff, Washington Post Staff Writer.

Headline, upper left, above the fold: "Balancing Jewish Law, Public Life." Subtitle, "For Lieberman, Modern Orthodoxy Involves Working Out the Details," by Hanna Rosin, Washington Post Staff Writer.

Headline, bottom, below the fold, continuing front-page article: "Gore Chooses Centrist Conn. Senator as Running Mate

Photograph, upper left, inside a synagogue with this caption: "Rabbi Barry Freundel at Kesher Israel gets prepared for an interview about Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), a congregant.

P. A13

Headline, upper left, continuing front-page article: "Lieberman Mixes Moderate Politics, Moral Imperative."

Headline, upper right: "Analysis, Choice Helps Gore Emerge as His Own Man," by Dan Balz, Washington Post Staff Writer. Subheadings in the long article are "A Young Leader" and "A Determined Centrist."

Photograph, center, top: Smiling and waving Lieberman and wife emerging from airplane that says "Gore for President" on the side. Caption: "Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and wife Hadassah arrive in Nashville for the official announcement of his selection as Vice President Gore's running mate.

Box below photo called "Fact File" has a short biography and four short quotes from Lieberman. These articles and photos, plus a small one of Gore signing autographs for a couple of young girls on A12, take up all of the two inside pages.

Lead editorial, page A24: "Integrity on the Ticket"

Columnists, page A24, from top to bottom and left to right:

David Broder: "Moral Standard Bearer"

Nathan J. Diament: "Jewish Law and the Duties of a Leader"

Richard Cohen: "Disarming Bush"

E. J. Dionne Jr.: "Neutralizing Monica"

George F. Will: "The Thinking Person's Choice"

A head shot of a beatifically smiling Lieberman is in the dead center of the page. There are no other columns on this opinion page. In fact, there are no other opinion columns in this issue of The Post. All the writers here are regular columnists of The Post except for Diament, who is described as "director of public policy at the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America."

The tone of the columns, the editorial, and the articles, in what amounts to an almost orgasmic outpouring of support, can only be described as worshipful. One can conclude that for The Post it is actually okay, even praiseworthy, for someone to be openly religious as long the person is not Christian, has no problem with abortion--even the partial-birth sort--and enthusiastically supports the militant homosexual and feminist agendas.

The Post appears to have set the tone for the mainstream media as a whole with respect to the choice of Joe Lieberman for Vice Presidential running mate. NBC, for one, even seems to have suddenly changed its tune toward Al Gore from lukewarm support to this same worshipfulness.

One may contrast the "mainstream" coverage of this shallow, sanctimonious, nakedly ambitious, foreign-adventurist, extremely pro-big-business Democratic politician, who so often says one thing and does another, with some sober second looks at the man on the Internet. For starters try George Szamuely's article, "Joe Lieberman and the Gansta State," at antiwar.com

David Martin
THE GREAT SPECKLED BIRD

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